What's cooking?

PML-N stalwart Pervaiz Rashid stayed silent when asked today whether estranged party bigwig Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will be allotted a ticket for the upcoming general election.

The question was asked as Rashid explained the party's ticket allotment process.

This is interesting as Nisar has already announced last month that he will be running from NA-59 and possibly NA-63.

Background: Although he enjoyed a close relationship with PML-N's top leadership for years, Nisar became estranged with the party and publicly opposed its strategy in the Panama Papers issue. He became more upset when his advice to not censure the Supreme Court-appointed JIT and the other institutions was ignored by Nawaz Sharif.

In background discussions, senior PML-N leaders have revealed that differences first emerged in July 2014, when Imran Khan announced plans to stage a sit-in against alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.

Sources said an anti-Nisar group within the party believed that he had either mishandled the sit-in, or had covertly supported the marchers by allowing them to enter the high-security Red Zone, where protesters remained camped out for 126 days.

Details on the fallout here.